ANABAPTISTS:
a collective name for a number of sectarian PROTESTANT GROUPS
originating in Germany in the early years of the sixteenth century. Their doctrines
varied, but the name stems from their common denial of the validity of INFANT BAPTISM and
emphasis on the purity of the visible CHURCH. Generally, and with some justification, they
were viewed as fanatics who disturbed civil order often resorting to violent means to
attain their ends. Out of this movement the more moderate and pacifist MENNONITES and
HUTTERITES emerged.
